Distinguished
Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos directs the great Marcello
Mastroianni in this extraordinary and beautifully
photographed tale of self-discovery. Mastroianni plays
Spyros, a schoolmaster of late middle-age who, like his
father before him, is also a beekeeper. Disenchanted and
unfulfilled by his life, Spyros takes leave of his wife and
grown children to embark on a solitary journey in search of
the emerging springtime flowers for his cherished beehives.
Moving from village to village, he encounters a young girl
hitchhiker who awakens in him feelings that start to become
an obsession. Charged with quiet emotional intensity, The
Beekeeper is a moving and powerful film about a man's
struggle to find release from the spectre of the past.

***

In this compelling drama,
Marcello Mastroianni gives a tour-de-force interpretation of
a disillusioned middle-aged man, a bee keeper who inherited
the passion for his vocation from his father. After weeping
silently at the end of his daughter's wedding ceremony,
Spyros (Mastroianni) leaves in his truck to check on his bee
hives and in the process gets involved with a winsome young
hitchhiker (Nadia Mourouzi). She makes some advances which
he immediately rejects, yet it is clear that he is
ambivalent about her. Next he pays his respects to the
people who have meant something to him in his life: his
ex-wife, an old friend, and his daughter. Each time he
mysteriously truncates his visit, and the enigma of what
lies unsaid deepens after he encounters the hitchhiker
again.

Around the time of
the release
of
The Weeping Meadow some years ago Artificial Eye
announced that they would be putting out most of Angelopoulos
films, but none have surfaced until now. Perhaps this means there
are more to come but I haven't heard any details.

This transfer is a port of a
French MK2 release, and the image looks strong. It is very clean
with some minor noise but detail is better than expected. No
supplements and the audio from the MK2 DVD retains the
unnecessary French
DUB. There are English subtitles and 5 trailers. It would be
great to have more here but I won't look a gift horse in the
mouth for this neglected and important director.